This invention relates generally to compressors and, more particularly, to sealing the casing end cover(s) to the body casing of a semi-hermetic compressor.
Semi-hermetic compressors are commonly used in many air conditioning and refrigeration applications to compress a refrigerant fluid for circulation through a refrigerant circuit wherein the compressor, a refrigerant heat rejection exchanger, an expansion device and a refrigerant heat absorption heat exchanger are arranged in serial refrigerant flow relationship. Semi-hermetic compressors include a casing main body housing a compression mechanism and a motor for driving the compression mechanism. A casing end cover(s) mounted to the casing main body by bolts closes the open end(s) of the casing main body.
For example, co-pending U.S. patent application publication number US 2011/0171044 A1, assigned to the common assignee to which this application is subject to assignment, discloses a semi-hermetic reciprocating compressor having a casing main body having a first open end and a second open end. A first end cover is mounted by bolts to the first open end of the casing main body and a second end cover is mounted by bolts to the second open end of the casing main body. To seal the respective interfaces between the casing main body and the casing end covers, a face seal gasket in disposed between each casing end cover and a flange on the end of the casing main body to which the casing end cover is mounted. To ensure that the face seal gasket forms a tight seal, a plurality of bolts disposed at spaced intervals around the flanges must be used to mount the casing end covers to the respective ends of the casing main body. In the reciprocating compressor illustrated in FIG. 1 of the aforementioned U.S. patent application publication number US 2011/0171044 A1, ten bolts are used to mount the casing end cover to the main bearing end of the casing main body and eighteen bolts are used to mount the casing end cover to the motor end of the casing main body.